TL;DR: Ultimately Singaporeans will get cheaper electrical bills (As of 1 November 2018)

Starting 1st April 2018, 108,000 households and 9,500 business in Jurong will get the chance to choose an electricity retailer that best suits their needs.

Average electricity usage has a declining trend since last year.

There are a total of 13 players and 3 most distinct types of price plans available.

The standard price plans are Fixed Price Plan and Discount Off Tariff Plan.

For Fixed Price Plan:Sunseap Energy is the cheapest for 6-months.Geneco is the cheapest for a 1-year contract.Geneco, Sembcorp and Keppel Electric is the cheapest for a 2-year contract.Keppel Electric is the only cheapest for a 3-year contract plan.Ohm Electricity has a No Contract Plan for this category.

For Discount Off Tariff Plan:Sunseap has the cheapest 6-months contract plan.
Ohm Electricity is the cheapest when it comes to a 1-year contract.Environmental Solution is the cheapest for a 2-year contract.

For peak and off-peak plans:PacificLight offers a discount off tariff for peak and off-peak plan.Keppel Electricity is the cheapest for peak rates and Geneco for off-peak rates.

3 Tips on choosing the best electricity plan!

By 1 November 2018, Open Electricity Market will launch this initiative across the whole of Singapore.

Always download the factsheet of the plans you are considering from the retailer’s website. (Look out for the fine print!)

For user experience, customer service, billing issues and other possible pros and cons of a retailer, it will be good to rely on insights from Singaporeans who have been there done that.Read the reviews before making a decision.

Tip: Last we heard, Discount off tariff is the most popular plan simply because it is a sure win from whatever the tariff may be.

How much Singaporeans spend on electricity bill every month?

Singaporeans are subjected to Electricity Tariff, which is regulated by the Energy Market Authority (EMA).

This Electricity Tariff is updated every quarterly, and as of Q4 2018, which is from 1 October 2018 to 31 December 2018, the Electricity Tariff is at 24.13 cents/kWh (25.82 cents/kWh with GST)

The Electricity Tariff is made up of 4 components:

Market Administration and Power System Operation Fee – 0.05 cents/kWhPaid to Energy Company and Power System Operator. Reviewed annually.

Market Support Services Fee (MSS) – 0.40 cents/kWhReviewed annually.

Network Cost – 5.31 cents/kWhReviewed annually.

Energy Cost – 18.37 cents/kWhReviewed quarterly.

The sum of the 4 components makes up your Electricity Tariff, which will be what the consumer pays for their monthly electricity bill.

Average Electricity Consumption And Electricity Bill Of Singaporeans

To give a good judgment on how the new scheme of using private electricity retailers will affect our electricity bills, we went on to find out on average, how much Singaporeans spend on electricity.

First, we find out the amount of electricity an average Singaporean consumes:

Now that we have a good estimation of how much electricity (in kWh) is being consumed for each property type, we went on to give an estimation of the cost (inclusive of GST):

Property Type

Average Electricity Consumption per month(kWh)

Average Cost of Electricity per month

HDB 1-Room

134.5

S$32.45

HDB 2-Room

182.64

S$44.07

HDB 3-Room

271.09

S$65.41

HDB 4-Room

366.75

S$88.50

HDB 5-Room

425.06

S$102.57

HDB Executive

520.36

S$125.56

Apartment

516.8

S$124.70

Terrace

896.96

S$214.02

Semi-Detached

1168.55

S$281.97

Bungalow

2346.08

S$566.11

Open Electricity Market in Singapore

As of 1st April 2018, households and businesses in Jurong will have the option to purchase electricity from a retailer. This reduces the reliant on SP group (SP Services) for electricity, where cost is based on a regulated tariff that changes every quarter.

13 electricity retailers are authorised at the moment with some of their

Assuming peak period is defined as the time where most Singaporeans are at home. Hence, if you have working hours which are away from the norm, this might be the plan for you given that your electricity usage will be during off-peak.

We see less company is having the Peak and off-peak plans mainly due to possible extra meter needed to be fixed at the household to monitor the electrical activity.

Company

Peak and off-peak plans

Peak

Off Peak

PacificLight

16% off tariff
(7am to 11pm)

26% off tariff
(11pm to 7am)

Keppel Electric

$0.2020/kWh
(7am to 11pm)

$0.1616/kWh
(11pm to 7am)

Geneco

$0.2301/kWh
(6am - 11pm)

$0.1552/kWh
(11pm-6am)

Sembcorp Power

$0.2140/kWh
(7am - 7pm)

$0.2531/kWh
(7pm - 7am)

Tuas Power

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

iSwitch

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Best Electricity

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Senoko Energy

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Ohm Electricity

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Sunseap

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Union Power

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Environmental Solution

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

Diamond Electric

Does not offer Peak and off-peak plans

PacificLight offers a discount off tariff for peak and off-peak plan.

Keppel Electricity is the cheapest for peak rates and Geneco for off-peak rates.

Should a consumer chooses to go with Peak and Off-peak plan, they may need to install a smart meter to track their electricity consumption every half an hour.

The meter installation fee costs $40 (before GST).

Further Reading:

When can I start applying?

Singaporeans can sign up for this service when the Open Electricity market is rolled out progressively in 4 geographical zones.

Transmission Loss Factors (TLF)

Scaling factors that are already applied at the metering point to account for network and transformer losses.

Residential customers fall under the 230.400V category when it comes to TLF

SP Group should have already adjusted this to derive the usage of consumers, hence, private retailers will simply take the information from SP Group and bill accordingly.

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